Man sentenced to 20 years in Minnesota abduction, murder
MINNEAPOLIS — One by one, they stepped up to the courtroom microphone and tried to put into words 27 years of sweeping emotion: Anguish. Anger. Fear. Sadness. Unwarranted guilt.
They did it through tears and through quivering voices, finally confronting the man who had abducted, molested and killed an 11-year-old boy they dearly loved and greatly missed.
Danny Heinrich was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Monday after confessing weeks ago to the October 1989 abduction, assault and murder of Jacob Wetterling, an act so brazen and heartbreaking that it gripped a state and region for decades and changed the way parents watched over their children.
But before Heinrich was escorted from the courtroom in Minneapolis to be sent off to federal prison, those closest to Jacob — his parents, siblings and best friend — recounted in detail how the heinous crime changed them forever.
“I lived every day thinking I was the monster that night. I was the coward that left my friend. I was the coward that ran away,” said friend Aaron Larson, who rode bikes with Jacob and Jacob’s brother, Trevor, to rent a movie in St. Joseph that night when Heinrich, wearing a mask and carrying a gun, jumped out of the darkness and ordered two of the boys to run off before snatching Jacob.
For decades, Larson said, he couldn’t handle his feelings. “I left the state. I left the country. I just wanted to be gone.”
Wetterling’s tearful parents described how they were grateful for community support as their son’s abduction tortured them, straining their relationship, curtailing Jerry’s work as a chiropractor, and affecting their ability to be a mother and a father to their three other children. They endured absurd rumors and even suspicion.
Amid recounting what they missed about Jacob — his hugs, his smile, his laughter, his jokes — Patty Wetterling addressed Heinrich directly:
“You didn’t need to kill him. He did nothing wrong. He just wanted to go home,” she said, her voice cracking. “You planned to hurt someone that night. You didn’t just bring a gun to scare the boys. You brought bullets.”
Jacob’s sister Amy choked back tears as she described the family’s anguish:
“The worst part is that for nearly 27 years, (Heinrich) let us believe that we would some day be able to see Jacob again,” she said. “He watched us suffer through anniversary after anniversary.”
Heinrich put an end to nearly three decades of mystery over what happened to Jacob by confessing to the crime in court in September, days after he led authorities to a rural Paynesville, Minn., pasture where he had buried the boy.
Federal prosecutors had cut a deal with Heinrich, who was awaiting trial on 25 counts of child pornography. Under terms of the agreement, Heinrich would plead guilty to one count of receiving child pornography and accept a 20year prison sentence in exchange for providing answers and leading investigators to Wetterling’s remains. Though he would not be prosecuted for Jacob’s kidnapping and murder, Heinrich, after serving his prison sentence, could remain in state custody under Minnesota’s civil sex offender commitment.
The unusual deal was struck, officials said, with the approval of Patty and Jerry Wetterling, who have advocated nationally for missing and exploited children.